Finally, There's Some Good News in the Battle Against ISIS

It's been a tough couple of months in the battle against the so-called Islamic State, but the news coming out of Iraq and Syria on this November Friday marks a refreshing change of pace. If the tide isn't turning, there are at least a few things to hang on to.

First, The Daily Beast and others report that the U.S. is "pretty damn sure" that it has killed Jihadi John, the jeering sadist with a British accent who beheaded multiple ISIS hostages on camera, with an airstrike. The figure, identified as Mohammed Emwazi by those who knew him back home, was part of "the Beatles," a group of three British nationals who tortured and murdered U.S. and British hostages, including James Foley. A senior U.S. administration official told the Beast that "the U.S. military followed Emwazi for the better part of a day leading up to the strike, which happened as he left a building."

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Second, the Kurdish Peshmerga—widely considered the most capable anti-ISIS ground forces—are believed to have struck two blows against the terror group. The New York Times reports they teamed with Yazidi fighters to take a crucial highway in Northern Iraq, one which serves as a supply line between the ISIS-held Mosul, in Iraq, and Eastern Syria, where ISIS can move freely. That was part of a larger push to retake the city of Sinjar from the Islamists. According to The Guardian, Kurdish forces have now entered Sinjar. The Kurdish regional president in Iraq claims the city has been retaken, but U.S. and other Kurdish officials have been more cautious in their appraisals.

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Third, the much-maligned Iraqi army has advanced on the ISIS-held city of Ramadi. Reports differ, per The Guardian, on whether their offensive to retake the city has begun. Iraqi military officials say their forces have already begun efforts to clear the city, while municipal officials and a police officer said that while security forces have surrounded the city, the operation had not yet begun. Recapturing Ramadi, a major city of 450,000 just 60 miles west of Baghdad, would be a major psychological and strategic victory for the Iraqis. Its initial fall to ISIS in May dealt a huge blow to Iraq's central government.

In October, Esquire's Tom Junod spoke with James Foley's mother, Diane Foley, about her son's death at the hands of ISIS. Read that story here.